AROUND THE NATION.

FSU's top receiver suspended for 1 game

November 03, 2004

Senior receiver Craphonso Thorpe, who leads Florida State with 31 catches, has been suspended for Saturday's game against Duke "because he hasn't met his academic responsibilities," coach Bobby Bowden said.

"You hate to lose anybody, and especially somebody with Thorpe's ability, but when things like that happen you just move on to the next guy," in this case Dominic Robinson, Bowden said.

But even without Thorpe, the 13th-ranked Seminoles still should handily defeat the Blue Devils, whose lone win this season came against The Citadel, a I-AA team.

The not-so-big 6

Two weeks ago, Iowa State was 0-2 in Big 12 Conference play and 2-4 for the season. Saturday, the Cyclones play host to Nebraska with a share of the Big 12's North Division lead at stake.

That speaks volumes about the shabby state of affairs in the North. Yeah, all the teams are nearly the same. That might make for a good race, but in this case it also makes for bad football.

Iowa State coach Dan McCarney has had his fill of North bashing.

"That stuff gets a little old after a while," he said.

The North is so problematic that Big 12 officials already have had discussions with the NCAA about worst-case scenarios for the league's championship game.

Assume that the North representative enters the game with a 6-5 record, which is hardly a stretch, and loses in the title contest to finish at .500. Would the North team be bowl-eligible, since NCAA rules stipulate that a team must have a winning record to be bowl-eligible?

The NCAA manual doesn't answer the question. An NCAA official said a subcommittee would have to be convened quickly to address such a scenario.

Offensive coordinator George Cortez returned to work Tuesday, a week after undergoing surgery to repair a detached retina. He missed No. 4 Cal's last two games. "He's been bored to death sitting around at home," head coach Jeff Tedford said of his top assistant.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Star tailback P.J. Daniels will be held out of Saturday's game at North Carolina State with a bruised knee suffered in Tech's 34-20 loss to Virginia Tech. Freshman Rashaun Grant will share carries with Chris Woods.

USC Trojans

The Trojans prevailed in wet, 30-degree weather complete with hail last Saturday in Pullman, Wash., so the prospect of cold weather this Saturday in Corvallis, Ore., doesn't concern coach Pete Carroll.

Baylor Bears

Coach Guy Morriss said he went for a two-point conversion that upset Texas Tech 35-34 rather than kick because the Bears were wearing out. Said losing coach Mike Leach: "I kind of liked it. No guts, no glory."

Georgia Bulldogs

The focus has been on more than football lately; players recalled one heated locker-room political discussion that included Iraq, gay marriage and abortion. "For 15 minutes, we were all screaming at the top of our lungs," running back DeMario Minter said.